Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Canning Chicken Legs

Over the weekend I went to one of our local grocery stores to take advantage of a pork deal. Took hubby with me so we could buy more as there was a limit on your purchase. Well, the cashier must've been flirting with hubby (his words) because she told him that after 10 p.m. (It was around 11:00 p.m. at the time) the butchers put out their meat markdowns for the day. Or maybe it was the fact that the only thing he was purchasing was a 10 lb. pack of pork and she thought since he's obviously a meat man he could use a little variety in his life.

Either way we went back to check it out and besides the pork deal ($1.29/lb. packs) we bought 5 - 3.5 lb. packages of drumsticks for $1.99/pkg. Yep, $9.95 for 17.5 lbs. of chicken. Love it! It was too bad there weren't any thigh packs. We would've bought all of them too. Canning chicken thighs is even easier than canning legs.

Yesterday I decided I would go ahead and can all those legs so that we'd have some chicken ready to go down the road for chicken noodle soup, enchiladas, chicken salad sandwiches or whatever we felt like. And our upright freezer is starting to get a little crowded. Hubby is still hoping to bag another deer before the season is over, so really I should make some room.

You just want to make sure they've sealed well. After 24 hrs. I take off the ring and try lifting the lid/flat with my thumb. If you can get it off then it obviously hasn't sealed. When that happens you can put it in the fridge or freezer until you're ready to use it.

I really love canning and would love to give canning meat a try. Here lately I have found a lot of bargain prices on meat so the next time I come across chicken, canning it will be on the top of my list.